Medical Research

The medical research community on BrightTALK brings together medical and research professionals. Find relevant webinars on medical research, laboratory science, continuing medical education and more presented by recognized medical researchers. Join the conversation by participating in live webinars and round table discussions on the latest in medical devices, medical research practices and trends in the healthcare industry.

Achieving your ADME/Tox testing goals requires experience, quality data, and proper alignment with regulatory guidance. Failure to meet these important requirements can put your drug discovery and pre-clinical goals at risk.
This presentation will provide an informative overview of how you can advance and reach your pre-clinical drug discovery goals. It will discuss the importance of core contract research capabilities, including enzyme induction, enzyme inhibition, and transporter interaction. In addition, we will review new capabilities and opportunities including CYP induction and SLC transporter assay services – all designed to align with regulatory agency guidance documents.

Speaker Bio:
David Stresser is the Program Manager of Corning® Gentest℠ Contract Research Services at Corning Life Sciences since 2001, having held prior positions of Product Manager and Study Director since joining Corning in 1998. Prior to this, he was a post-doctoral associate in the laboratory of David Kupfer at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts. He did his graduate work in the laboratory of David E. Williams at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon receiving a Ph.D. in toxicology in 1994. Dr. Stresser has authored or co-authored 40 articles or book chapters in the field of drug metabolism and has been an invited speaker at various national and international meetings, pharmaceutical companies, and universities.

Development of bioanalytical LC-MS methods for the detection of therapeutic peptides and the proteolytic fragments of larger proteins and antibodies is growing along with the increasing number of peptide and protein drugs entering clinical research and development. Development of these methods present challenges that are different to small molecule method development because of the multiple charge states possible for a given peptide, the abundance of product ion possibilities and the large number of proteolytic fragments possible from a protein digest. In addition to optimizing for sensitivity, on-column HPLC method development is time consuming for the same reasons. In this webinar we present an automated tuning and optimization workflow with on-column validation using DiscoveryQuantTM 3.0 software with the new ChromaTune feature to overcome some of these challenges and make the optimization of peptide MRM methods easier and less time consuming.

Presentation 2: Remco van Soest, Product Manager, Sciex

Electrospray Ionization efficiency increases at lower flow rates. In this Webinar we will discuss how microLC can help you improve sensitivity in sample limited applications in bio-analysis by LC-MS. In order to analyse the same volume of sample as is typically injected in a conventional LC-MS system, up to 50 µL, we have developed a microLC system that allows for fast on-line pre-concentration on a short trap column. Because of the higher flow rates that can be used for loading the sample on the trap-column, sample throughput is not affected by using microLC flow rates for the LC-MS analysis.

Cell therapy is the fastest growing segment of regenerative medicine. Cell therapy is comprised of immune cell therapy and stem cell therapy, with stem cell therapy making up the largest part of this market: it is estimated that the global stem cell therapy market will reach $40 billion by 2020 and $180 billion by 2030.

Many factors determine the rate at which the stem cell therapy market advances. It is driven by the success of stem cell treatments in curing life-threatening diseases such as cancer, heart diseases and neuromuscular diseases in the worlds aging populations. In contrast, stem cell market growth rate is hindered by manufacturing and regulatory concerns. For example, if only 20% of the 318 global late stage clinical trials are approved for release on the market, there will not be enough stem cell therapy manufacturing facilities to produce the 64 resulting products. This is due, in part, to funding concerns, the high cost of build-out as well as cGMP compliance, standardization of production processes, and ever changing industry regulations.

RNAi screening has made it possible to identify new genes, or gene networks, that are involved in a wide vari¬ety of biological processes, including assays relevant to signal transduction, cell viability, cell morphology, protein localization and function, drug resistance, and responses of host cells to pathogens. As such, RNAi continues to help us gain critical insights into the mechanisms underlying human disease and accelerate the development of treatments for cancer and a host of other disorders. The intersection between RNAi screening and complementary approaches such as CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing has opened up new opportunities for assay development, screening and validation. The successful implementation of genome-editing technologies in several species suggests this will serve as an important and relevant tool for validation studies in numerous cell lines and model systems. Additionally, RNAi rescue experiments using LentiORFs serve an important role in further validating and boosting confidence of screened hits. As we continue to develop new strategies to improve genome-wide RNAi screening and validation, the significance of RNAi as a research tool will remain for many years to come.

Have you hit a roadblock in the lab or need an extra burst of creative thinking?

Join Orr Ravitz at 10:00 AM (EDT) on July 16th for an overview of the future of synthetic design and the software that can help improve your efficiency and creativity in the lab with ARChem.

He will discuss how medicinal chemists, process chemists and material scientists use ARChem as an idea generator – a tool for route scouting, for brain storming sessions, for the daily synthesis planning and potentially provide an alternative that gets you to curated experimental pathways faster than exploring the literature.

RNAi screening has made it possible to identify new genes, or gene networks, that are involved in a wide vari¬ety of biological processes, including assays relevant to signal transduction, cell viability, cell morphology, protein localization and function, drug resistance, and responses of host cells to pathogens. As such, RNAi continues to help us gain critical insights into the mechanisms underlying human disease and accelerate the development of treatments for cancer and a host of other disorders. The intersection between RNAi screening and complementary approaches such as CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing has opened up new opportunities for assay development, screening and validation. The successful implementation of genome-editing technologies in several species suggests this will serve as an important and relevant tool for validation studies in numerous cell lines and model systems. Additionally, RNAi rescue experiments using LentiORFs serve an important role in further validating and boosting confidence of screened hits. As we continue to develop new strategies to improve genome-wide RNAi screening and validation, the significance of RNAi as a research tool will remain for many years to come.

Understanding your customers is fundamental to effective communication. Current segmentation strategies draw on ever more detailed information about how patients, physicians and payers behave through the use of open source, social media and real world data. However, segmentation still lacks clear insight into why these stakeholders behave as they do – and therefore how best to change their behaviour.
Working with behavioural change experts Hamell, this one hour live discussion will look at why current segmentation strategies are failing, and the importance of understanding what drives patient or customer behaviour. Using case studies, speakers will explore how segmenting by behavioural drivers can create advanced, effective strategies to change patient, customer and payer behaviour.
This event will focus on three key areas:

•The theory behind behavioural segmentation and how it challenges the status quo
•Benefits of behavioural segmentation communication strategies and the problems answered by behavioural segmentation strategies
•Behavioural segmentation in action: practical application of this approach

In an effort to thwart fraudulent medical manufacturing practices, the European Commission published a Commission Recommendation (2013/473/EU) focusing on the assessment and auditing practices of notified bodies in the field of medical devices.
A particular emphasis in this Recommendation has been placed on unannounced audits. Unannounced audits are additional assessments by notified bodies of manufacturers and/or their critical material suppliers. Auditors commissioned by the notified body will be able to arrive on site without giving the manufacturer prior notice and proceed with inspection. Over 5,000 unannounced audits are expected this year alone and come in addition to the initial surveillance or renewal audits of a three-year certification cycle.

Now is the time to make sure you and your supplier’s quality and supply chain management systems are in place and you have full transparency. Join us for this informational webinar discussing this trending regulatory standard and learn about what you and your suppliers should be doing to proactively prepare.

Though single-use technology and the general use of disposables are widely accepted and applied both in process development, pilot plant and selected production processes, they are not in general a reasonable choice at any scale or application. Notably process chromatography is considered a critical unit operation regarding feasibility to single-use application with the chromatographic matrix assumed to be the typical cost driver. But is this really true? The answer to this quite ambivalent: it depends! Numerous young and innovative companies have developed new and/or alternative products which can help to significantly reduce the costs of goods, thus providing an interesting basis for single-use applications. After all, taking into account reasonable scales and suitable manufacturing targets, the doors have been opened widely due to the supply of appropriate low-cost matrices and feasible hardware.

Life sciences companies need to make better use of the insights that real world data (RWD) can provide in order to improve market access, sales and market growth strategies – and ultimately to improve the applicability of new and existing therapeutics for patients. Insights come not just from the multiple sources of RWD available, but from advanced analytics that highlight the effectiveness of a treatment by geographic area, and link healthcare providers, institutions and patients to relevant and meaningful outcomes.

This one-hour event will take a hands-on approach – detailing how insights derived from RWD (and collaboratively with other sources) are enabling all elements of the life science industry to do things better.

Insights experts Robin Munro and Christian Marcazzo will deliver case studies on how RWD can help life science companies in:

Sales and Marketing – incorporate RWD and evidence into segmentation, targeting, and engagement of physicians and institutions
Commercial Effectiveness – measure commercial campaigns, and demonstrate the impact to the healthcare system
Medical Affairs – find and engage medical education prospects and target appropriate healthcare authorities, healthcare professionals and payers, to improve quality of care and outcomes
Public Affairs and Market Access – develop qualitative and quantitative insights to design education, advocacy and access-related campaigns within the healthcare ecosystem

The event will also give an exclusive look at what can be achieved from combining data sources – using Diabetes in England as a case study, Zephyr has implemented novel methods to demonstrate an evidence-based approach to improving information sharing within sales teams and to engaging accounts and payers. We explore how patient outcomes from RWD can add value to commercial strategy.

Special Guest Terry Kenakin Ph.D. will be taking part in our LIVE Q&A session answering your questions!

[ABOUT THIS WEBINAR]

Ligand bias is a well-established concept in the GPCR research field that is beginning to emerge as a means to optimize GPCR targeted drug design. Most approved medications that target GPCRs act as either agonists or antagonists of heterotrimeric G protein and β-arrestin pathways. In many cases, this classical signaling paradigm leads to both efficacy and on-target adverse events. Biased GPCR ligands have the ability to activate or inhibit with greater selectivity one of the two downstream effector proteins and its subsequent signaling cascades. The goal of this webinar is to illustrate in vitro characterization of GPCR ligand bias and its translation to in vivo proof-of concept using TRV027, an AT1R modulator, as an exemplar biased ligand.

The Asia Pacific is the third largest pharmaceutical market in the world after North America and Europe, with generics being the major driver for the pharmaceutical industry in this region, aided by factors such as the aging population and impending expiry of patented drugs. It is a necessity for pharmaceutical companies to be aware of the key trends in the APAC generics market and maximise the market opportunities in order to remain relevant.

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, pharmaceutical companies are also starting to realise the importance of the customer experience as a key differentiator. With a gradual shift from product to the customer, the pharmaceutical industry needs to keep up with other industries in terms of providing the perfect digital customer experience. A well-executed digital strategy is essential for today’s pharmaceutical companies to better connect with their clients.

Cell lines remain the workhorses of laboratory research, both in academic and industrial settings. This webinar will focus on best practice in selecting and maintaining cell lines for research, to ensure research outputs are relevant and reproducible. Features of cell lines that might be used in selection will be discussed. This will include monolayer or suspension culture; passage number; doubling time; immortalisation; karyotype; receptors; expression profiling and use of bioinformatics tools like the cancer cell line encyclopaedia. Using breast cancer as an exemplar, I will discuss more specifically how to choose the most relevant cell line model to address a particular research question. Finally I will describe how to use (and access) human material to help develop more clinically relevant cell culture systems to model human disease and the role that biobanks play in this process.

Cell lines remain the workhorses of laboratory research, both in academic and industrial settings. This webinar will focus on best practice in selecting and maintaining cell lines for research, to ensure research outputs are relevant and reproducible. Features of cell lines that might be used in selection will be discussed. This will include monolayer or suspension culture; passage number; doubling time; immortalisation; karyotype; receptors; expression profiling and use of bioinformatics tools like the cancer cell line encyclopaedia. Using breast cancer as an exemplar, I will discuss more specifically how to choose the most relevant cell line model to address a particular research question. Finally I will describe how to use (and access) human material to help develop more clinically relevant cell culture systems to model human disease and the role that biobanks play in this process.

Multiplexed protein assays have tremendous potential in clinical diagnostics, in particular measurement of proteins in plasma or serum derived from circulating blood. The dynamic range of protein concentration in these samples, and the dominance of very high abundance proteins such as albumin and immunoglobulins, make measurement of low concentration proteins impossible without some type of enrichment approach. This workshop will discuss the benefits of using Seppro® protein depletion columns in sample preparation for multiplexed LC-MS protein clinical assays.

Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant, an essential nutrient needed to maintain cellular structures and functions, thus helping support health. However, intake still remains low among consumers globally. There is an ongoing discussion about the optimal vitamin E status in healthy populations and its role in maintaining liver and brain function outside of nutritional recommendations.

New and ongoing research suggests that vitamin E at higher doses may help maintain tissue function in specific risk groups, such as age-related macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver. Applications like these require the advice and supervision of health care professionals. It is important to revisit both the required doses and safety for targeted vitamin E intakes for these conditions. Further research will be required to support qualified health claims for mitigating the outcomes of these diseases.

Join the latest webinar in our series on research related to vitamin E. Hear our speakers Prof. Jeffrey Blumberg and DSM’s Prof. Manfred Eggersdorfer and Jacob Bauly present their latest findings on vitamin E safety and its implications on the recommended intake across different life stages and conditions.

Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant, an essential nutrient needed to maintain cellular structures and functions, thus helping support health. However, intake still remains low among consumers globally. There is an ongoing discussion about the optimal vitamin E status in healthy populations and its role in maintaining liver and brain function outside of nutritional recommendations.

New and ongoing research suggests that vitamin E at higher doses may help maintain tissue function in specific risk groups, such as age-related macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver. Applications like these require the advice and supervision of health care professionals. It is important to revisit both the required doses and safety for targeted vitamin E intakes for these conditions. Further research will be required to support qualified health claims for mitigating the outcomes of these diseases.

Join the latest webinar in our series on research related to vitamin E. Hear our speakers Prof. Jeffrey Blumberg and DSM’s Prof. Manfred Eggersdorfer and Jacob Bauly present their latest findings on vitamin E safety and its implications on the recommended intake across different life stages and conditions.

Join us on June 22nd for a special Corning-sponsored webinar presented by ATCC®.

Abstract:
Animal cell lines are important in vitro systems and tools for scientists in diverse disciplines such as basic cell biology, genetic mapping, gene expression and gene therapy. Cell line authentication and characterization are crucial in these activities, yet they are underappreciated by most research scientists. Over the years numerous cell lines have been shown to be misidentified due, in part, to poor techniques and inadequate verification of cell line authenticity. Technological advances have given rise to improved capabilities. Cell line authentication now requires a comprehensive strategy that employs several complementary technologies for systematic testing for morphology, microbial contaminations, cellular identity/cross-contamination as well as functionality. The validity of conclusions drawn from research data is dependent on consistent and unequivocal verification of cell line identity and function. It is estimated that the financial loss incurred by poorly characterized or misidentified cell lines is in the millions of dollars. An overview of the current technologies used to authenticate cell lines will be presented.

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Yvonne A. Reid joined ATCC in 1980 and during the mid-1980’s her research focused on the use of DNA hypervariable probes for the intraspecies identification of cell lines. The evolution of this work has led to the implementation of routine screening of all human cell lines by STR analysis. She co-chaired the ATCC SDO committee on the Development Consensus Standard on the Authentication of Human Cell Lines: Standardization of STR profiling. Dr. Reid has more than 30 years of experience in cell biology, immunology and molecular biology. As Collection Scientist for the Cell Biology Program for over 10 years, she was responsible for acquisition of new animal cell lines and hybridomas into the Cell Biology General Collection.

This webinar will focus on operations and maintenance of the StatSpin Express 3 centrifuge. By performing simple inspections, routine maintenance and operating the centrifuges as described in this webinar, you can maximize your StatSpin Express 3 uptime and sustain your productivity.

Semiconductor nanostructures possess a number of applications in solar energy conversion. This includes using colloidal quantum dots in solar cells and, more recently, using analogous nanostructures such as nanowires (NWs) and nanosheets (NSs) in photocatalytic applications. In this presentation, we describe recent work to understand the photocatalytic response of solution-synthesized CdSe NWs and CdS NSs within the context of hydrogen generation. Various CdSe NW- and CdS NS-based systems such as core/shell structures and hybrid metal nanoparticle/semiconductor hybrid systems have been studied. In all cases, femtosecond transient differential absorption spectroscopy has been used to reveal relevant carrier relaxation processes in these materials as well as the flow of charges across the different heterointerfaces that are present. By correlating these transient absorption kinetics to results from accompanying hydrogen generation quantum yield measurements, we have, in turn, rationalized the response of these materials, clarifying the role that different heterojunctions play in establishing both charge separation and hydrogen generation efficiencies.

Health plans push for their members to visit their primary care provider for a checkup. It improves health outcomes and reduces the medical spend from costs related to illness and disease. Like their members, health plans also need checkups that will identify the challenges to which they are increasingly exposed, such as issues around information security, revenue maximization, and staffing needs. In this webinar, we will discuss how to specifically deal with key issues related to each of these areas.

Business requirements and technology trends are constantly on a change. Organizations are looking for partners who can provide solutions that are scalable and built on extensible architectures to support global needs with faster time-to-market and lower costs. Dell Application Development Maintenance and Support (ADMS) services cut across industries and verticals with expertise and capability in a host of technology platforms Microsoft, Java, Open source, Mainframe and other legacy platforms. We have partnered with niche players as well as leading vendors like Oracle, IBM and SAP in their database and platform solutions.

Attend this webinar to learn how Dell Application Development and Maintenance services can help build a scalable and growth-focussed enterprise.

This workshop will introduce Corning® HepatoCells for ADME/Tox study. Derived from primary human hepatocytes, Corning HepatoCells are a renewable hepatocyte-like cell line and retain most of the physiological properties of their parental hepatocytes, such as mature hepatocyte-like morphology and induction response to prototypical inducers of CYP3A4, 1A2, and 2B6 similar to primary human hepatocytes. An overview of the characterization of Corning HepatoCells for ADME/Tox studies will be presented, along with using the model system for prediction of clinical CYP induction. The attendees will gain an understanding of the capability of Corning Hepatocyte-cells for drug ADME/Tox study.

Technology innovators will provide concepts and best practice considerations for integration. Hear their perspectives on:

- Identifying ideal solution partners based on needs and use cases specific to your organization.
- Building an information architecture framework, capable of evolving with your needs.
- Cost of ownership considerations.
- Decision Support Resources (real time, long term)

Because of worldwide demographic changes a dramatic increase of the geriatric population is expected in the next decades. While pediatric drug delivery principles are becoming integrated into the development of new medicines, drug developers are less prepared to appropriately address the specific needs of this booming patient population. This webinar tries to give an overview about the possible drug delivery strategies addressing old age dependent differences. There will be specifically focused on how patient convenience and compliance can be improved, how disease specific drug delivery strategies can help geriatric patients, and how learnings from pediatric drug development can be used as a platform towards geriatric drug delivery.